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Monday, May 15, 2017

The Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Stephen P. Kiernan's latest, The Baker's Secret.

The war has been raging for four years and twenty-two-year-old Emma sees no end in sight. Unlike the rest of her fellow villagers, Emma holds out no hope of the Allies' arrival. She fears the occupying army will always rule and that their current life is the new normal. In spite of this, and in spite of her staunch refusal to join the official resistance, Emma has become a one man underground trading market. It begins when the Kommandant tastes her baguette and insists she receive enough rations to bake a dozen of the loaves each day for him and his men. Emma complies, but pads the dough with ground straw in order to bake two extra she can divvy out amongst the starving villagers. Soon she's sourcing tobacco and fuel so that the villagers can have fish and other necessities. But with the ever present Germans oh, so watchful, Emma knows it's only a matter of time before she gets caught.

Readers, this was a book I'd been greatly looking forward to. And I have to say Kiernan delivered wholeheartedly! My only regret is that I read this in the midst of having come down with a vicious cold and I fear that when I'm better, I'll come to the blog and see that this whole post is a bunch of gobbledygook!

So I will attempt a readable review, but I promise nothing.

The Baker's Secret is set in WWII occupied France, in a village that refuses to go down without making the Germans at least a little miserable for having taken their town. There is an arm of the official resistance, but everyone fights in their own little ways. One of the most prominent small battles: simply being late for all but collecting rations. And so, they've convinced the Germans that they're basically a village of buffoons earning latitude by being underestimated. Their resourcefulness is necessary for survival, because it's true none of them can see the end in sight.

But everyone holds out hope that the allies will arrive and provide salvation.

Except for Emma. Which is why she takes matters into her own hands, in spite of not wanting to get involved. See, there's a fire burning in Emma. A fire stoked by the murder of her uncle - the man she apprenticed with -, the conscription of her fiancé, and her father's arrest. That fire forces her to test the boundaries with her bread - how much straw can she add before the Germans will notice? It also forces her to test the boundaries with her boarders, carrying out her plans while a wormy and ruthless captain of the enemy army holds court in her own home. And it forces her to put aside any fear of her own safety, excepting how her capture or death would affect those who have come to rely on her.

I loved Emma and all of the characters that people her village! Kiernan does a fantastic job bringing this small town and their small (and increasingly larger) acts of rebellion to life.

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Stephen P. Kiernan and his work you can visit his website here. You can also like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.